Jesus came to reveal the Father, but He also gave believers the Great Commission so we can reveal Him to a world that desperately needs Him. We cannot effectively minister for Christ if we’re not secure in and understand how much God loves us. Some believe Jesus’ atoning work merely cleans us up; they do not believe we are called to share our faith.
I’m reminded of two neighbors. One had a dog, the other a bunny. The neighbor with the dog would often let his dog dig holes and make messes in his neighbor’s yard.
One day, the neighbor with the dog looked out and saw his dog tossing his neighbor’s little white bunny in the air. He said, “This is going to make things bad. I must save that bunny.” When the dog’s master got to the bunny, it was lying on the ground, dog slobber all over it, and lifeless.
The man’s neighbor was unaware. So, he grabbed the bunny and ran it back to his house. He bathed the bunny. He got out his blow-dryer and dried off the white bunny. This white, fluffed-up bunny looked better dead than it ever looked alive. He then ran and carefully placed it back in the cage.
Later, he heard an awful cry. “My neighbors discovered that the bunny was dead. I’m going to pretend I don’t know anything,” the man thought to himself. He went over to his neighbor and asked, “What’s wrong? Can I help you?”
His neighbor replied, “I don’t understand it. My bunny died yesterday. We buried it. Look, today, it’s come back to its cage.”
Understand, we are not that white, fluffed-up bunny in the cage — lifeless. We are meant for more. Sinners loved Jesus. They were attracted to Jesus. It was the religious people who hated Jesus.
We must be secure in our knowledge of God’s love for us so that we can live in such a way that we’re not only mirroring God’s love but also Christ. Yes, you are meant for more than merely being like that fluffed-up, lifeless bunny in a cage.
Jesus never condoned sin. Still, sinners had a way of coming to Him because they recognized something in Jesus that they understood they needed. They understood the religious folks didn’t have “it.” Those religious leaders were like the dead bunny in its cage — fluffed-up, looking good, but dead. They recognized Jesus had life, that Jesus was secure, that He and the Father are one.
If you are a born-again child of God, you are joint heirs with Christ Jesus. We are adopted into the family of God. Sinners will notice this, and they’re going to be attracted to you, but they’re not going to understand why. You may be thinking: but Scripture says what fellowship has light with darkness? Exactly, you do not get down and roll in their sin. You merely model the holiness Jesus afforded you.
True holiness is inspired by grace and true grace requires living with a different attitude and in a different way. For this to work, we must rid our insecurities, embrace God’s love, and believe that Jesus absorbed and diverted God’s wrath against sin away from us.
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